Author Description

The previous checklist of the vascular plants of Finland was published more than 30 years ago (Kurtto & Lahti 1987). The taxonomy and nomenclature adopted for it were updated for most of the flora in the 4th edition of the Field Flora of Finland (Hämet-Ahti et al. 1998) and in its two supplements (Hämet-Ahti et al. 2005a, b). However, rare casuals and rare hybrids were excluded from them. In the last few decades, changes in plant taxonomy have been profound due to the rapid development of phylogenetic studies using molecular markers. On the other hand, active field inventories in Finland have considerably added to the floristic information. So an up-to-date checklist of the vascular plants of Finland with accepted scientific and vernacular names and historical status indications is clearly needed--in particular for the databases of the Finnish Museum of Natural History Luomus and for the national Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility (FinBIF, https://laji.fi/en), as well as for the forthcoming new edition of the Field Flora of Finland, floristic field work (e.g. field cards), curation of herbaria, teaching, conservation, and various other uses by the media and society in general.--Preface.